Thoughts on the 2011 rule changes

Yesterday we saw a fleet of rule changes brought in by the World Motor Sport Council and the FIA, to tackle an order of issues for the 2011 season. These range from clarifying safety car rules and fuel samples, to the tyres supplied to the grid and the adjustable rear wings.

Unfortunately, in my view, the larger rule changes are all for the worse. The adjustable rear wings, for example, are simply a far too complicated version of trying to reduce downforce for the car behind. Banning diffusers, or any other method of reducing rear downforce, would have been better. Also, the 107% rule is quite unnecessary, seeing as the new teams are catching up quite well. The new team next year will have extra pressure put on them, thanks to this rule.

However, on the other side, some of the changes do make sense. First of all, I’m very happy that Pirelli has been chosen as the tyre supplier, as Michelin were simply bringing far too many demands. The increased minimum weight will encourage teams to run the KERS system next year (more on this in a separate post), which needs to be run by every team in order for it to work.

Other rules, like the safety car line, Ho-Pin-Tung’s superlicense and fuel samples, are less important, and won’t generate much controversy. What do you think of the new rule changes? Have a say below: